'antilogarithm' originates from Greek elements: the prefix 'anti-' and the word 'logarithm', where 'anti-' meant 'opposite' and 'logarithm' comes from Greek 'logos' ('ratio' or 'reason') + 'arithmos' ('number').

'logarithm' was coined in the early 17th century from Greek roots (via Latin/Neolatin mathematical usage); 'antilogarithm' was formed later in English by adding the prefix 'anti-' to denote the inverse of a logarithm, and the term stabilized in mathematical usage as 'antilogarithm'.

Initially it meant 'the inverse of a logarithm', and this meaning has remained essentially unchanged in modern mathematics.